KALISPELL — The Flathead Warming Center, a homeless shelter in Kalispell, is at risk of having its permit revoked by the City of Kalispell.
The Kalispell City Council held a series of meetings last week about the permit revocation and postponed the decision for 60 days.
The Flathead Warming Center’s permit is under review after neighbors filed complaints with the city regarding issues with homeless people in the area surrounding the facility.
The City of Kalispell has given the Flathead Warming Center 60 days to work with the community to come up with solutions on how to address these issues.
“Well, I think there's a sense of urgency for everyone. Issues need to be addressed, solutions need to be found, but also winter will be here before we know it,” said Flathead Warming Center executive director Tonya Horn.
During the city council meetings, many issues the Flathead Warming Center was unaware of were brought to their attention such as loitering, an increase in homeless population presence, littering and more.
The goal of the Flathead Warming Center has always been to help the homeless, but also be a good neighbor which is rule number one on their occupancy agreement.
“Sixty days is not a long time, but we have always had the heart for collaboration. And if this process can increase communication with our neighbors and collaboration that brings about real solutions, that's what's most important — and that needs to continue beyond the 60 days,” said Horn.
While Horn does not have an exact plan on how to address the issues yet, she encourages members of the community and direct neighbors of the Warming Center to come in and talk.
“We need to have those real hard conversations and figure out solutions. So our first strategy, I guess you could say, is what we've always thought is important, is communication. And so we invite our neighbors to come and have the hard conversations with us,” said Horn.
While the Flathead Warming Center is concerned about the possible revocation of their permit, they have also contacted lawyers about the legality of the City of Kalispell revoking the permit.
“Well, we have some legal questions as far as the city's authority to be able to revoke our conditional use permit. However, that does not contradict our complete desire to collaborate to find real solutions. Our neighbors are wanting real solutions. The entire community is wanting real solutions,” said Horn.
If the city revokes the Flathead Wrming Center's permit, 50 people a night will be out on the streets this upcoming winter.
“We have lots of different organizations in the Flathead we're just a part of the solution, and we need our community to get behind us, to be a part of that solution," Horn said. "And so everyone needs a seat at the table for true collaboration and it's only through collaboration that we're gonna find real solutions that are right for our community."
We will continue to follow this story and provide information on how the Community can connect with the Warming Center as plans develop to solve this issue.
